Review in a Nutshell: An Indonesian martial arts movie written and directed by a Welsh man, The Raid: Redemption is not just a typical action movie. It blends drama and suspense with some of the most breath-taking and technically accomplished fight choreography in recent cinema history to create a tight, tense, thoroughly engrossing experience.

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Tom: Dudes are also shot by bullets, possibly in greater quantities. We’ll need to consult a concerned parent’s watchdog group to get the full breakdown of shootings versus stabbings.

Corrections to two things I said in error during the raw recording: first, the replaced music track is present on both the original Indonesian language track as well as the English dub of the film such that the version shown in US theaters did have it. The original score is also available as an option to listen to for both English and Indonesian, so you can have it four ways if you want. I’m fine with this stuff as long as the option is there, though I must actually recant my hating on the Linkin Park guy and say that the original music track being generally silent throughout the film does detract from key portions.

The second thing is that the movie wasn’t actually shot in some condemned building they were free to wreck. It’s primarily shot on sets, like the martial arts films of yesteryear. So when that stunt went awry it was “only” 1.5-2 stories the dude fell as opposed to what it looked like it would’ve been on camera. That’s still a generally-fatal distance, so for the guy to get up and say “let’s do it again!” is still insanity.

Was it just not good enough for you that EVERY SINGLE TIME we said one of those words we immediately then went out of our way to say “I just mispronounced that” that you STILL saw fit to post a comment saying “you guys mispronounced that”?

Yes, we know. We are 100% fully aware that is not how ANY of the words are spoken, but the reason for that is that we are reading them as written in the English language using the grammatical rules of the English language. Notice that you have to spell them completely differently just to get a rough phonetic equivalent. As we all have zero knowledge of what Indonesian grammar entails since the only English-speaking person we’ve ever heard say any of those words did so in a Welsh accent on a commentary track, it was easier to just follow up each time with “that’s not actually how you say that, but…”

I have not listen to the podcast yet, but I am certain that Daryl Surat is going to talk about how he hates it when critics’ use ” the film is like a video game” shorthand to critique action films that they do not like.

Please don’t comment before listening to the show. You’re correct, we do address that subject as it is relevant to discussing Roger Ebert’s negative review of the film, but I fail to see the point of your prediction.

It’s not even a “prediction,” as I spoke about the fact that I did so on Twitter, regarding this film specifically. The way that post is written makes it sound like I’m just going on about this all the time, like some broken record.

Oh, don’t worry: I was way ahead of you on that because I did that well BEFORE the recording. Here’s what happens when you type “parang” into Google: the first result pertaining to it says it’s more or less functionally and physically identical to what we in this part of the world would collectively refer to as a “machete.” My family, being from Trinidad, refers to that type of blade as a “cutlass” (emphasizing the second syllable) because “parang” to us is a type of music. In fact, if you type “parang” into Wikipedia, you’ll get the music first before the blade.

Were I to have adopted the vernacular I grew up on, I’m sure I’d be receiving “helpful” comments about how cutlasses are ACTUALLY sabers with handle guards, or that the way I’ve always heard “parang” pronounced isn’t correct to Malaysians.

Interesting thought about the cutlasses talk, though I could swear there were a few different designs between a parang and a machete.

But, I’m seriously envious about the neighbouring countries having better action movies. To the north, we have the Thais with their great action movies. To the west(technically the south-west), we have the Indons creating stuff like The Raid now. In my country, all they ever make are shitty movies about lousy ass gangsters, shitty ghost movies, or a hybrid of both. Damn.

Have to agree on the cinematography of this movie. At least I can understand where the people are and who are fighting who, instead of being shaky-cammed to kingdom come. Also, if you know your Indo/Malay, let’s just say the many curses they utter would set a Muslim Malay to either kick your ass, or prompt death threats a many.

Sorry for double posting, but a phrase just came to mind how silat is described here to us:

If a wushu/ kung-fu master has to fight, he would look absolutely serious and you will be wary of the person. A silat master, on the other hand, will make his art look like a dance, whilst smiling.

I know that silat sometimes could be dangerous(we get bombarded with tales of old warriors kicking ass with silat in ELEMENTARY/PRIMARY SCHOOL), but I never knew it was this scary, until I saw The Raid.

I tell you, if Mad Dog was just smiling and laughing in this movie whilst still kicking ass, I would fear my neighbourhood forever of old, smiling Malay men.

Thanks for turning me on to this movie, Goob. Your podcast never fails to entertain and inform.

As much as I find Daryl to be obnoxious whenever he is on your podcast, I always agree with his opinions. Plus this podcast needs a John Woo fan since as I recall Paul doesn’t like his work. Perchance you may do a John Woo month where you can be convinced of Woo’s greatness (in the past tense).

As for the movie, I always love to get a taste of other martial arts rather than the standard Kung Fu fare (as much as I love it.) I was nerding out over the tonfu/knife style the main character was using. Tonfus need more love in movies.

As for what Daryl was saying about the differences in the stunt work vs Hong Kong, I think I can see where he is coming from on that regard. Not even with just the ‘big’ stunts. Hong Hong martial arts films seem to be pretty clean nowadays (at least the ones I’ve been watching) One of the biggest selling points for the Tony Jaa films were the brutality (I don’t want to say gritty because it’s such an over used term) of the violence that The Raid certainly has.

Anyways good to see a modern martial arts film on this podcast that isn’t some Hollywood schlock like Street Fighter or Mortal Combat. I’d like to see you tackle some of Donny Yen’s films. I think he’s been making some fantastic stuff recently with movies like Ip Man, Legend of the Fist and Wu Xia.

Just watched the raid. Holy Crap this movie is simply amazing the choreography, story acting but manly I loved how everything was used in the environments for cover or some astetic of the scene. From top to bottom a fantastic film great recommendation. I saw the previews on a movie I have and was interested but you guys sealed the deal good stuff

Just watched the Raid: Redemption. Holy Crap this movie is simply amazing the choreography, story acting but manly I loved how everything was used in the environments for cover or some astetic of the scene. Like the machete guy tapping the walls, or the bulging plaster. how a gun left on the ground is later still there picked up and checked for ammo then dropped again because there is only one bullet. From top to bottom a fantastic film great recommendation. I saw the previews on a movie I have and was interested but you guys sealed the deal good stuff

You guys really know how to make a movie sound like the greatest movie ever and I wasn’t disappointed.
I’ve used the term shaky cam a lot without thinking of the difference between shaky cam and hand camera and it isn’t that significant is it? Maybe if the director has the camera shake as a trick because a large dinosaur is walking by that is “shaky cam”.
I’m not sure I want to touch the video game question but I think the movie intentionally abandons reality in an interesting way. The beginning feels more realistic and a lot like Black Hawk Down, which I’ve always felt had a strong sense of realism. But then the guns begin to disappear and Mad Dog’s line about take out transforms the movie into a martial arts fantasy where lead characters heads can survive thirty poundings into the wall and minions can only survive one.

Paul, I’m going to have to disagree with you on this being “what John Woo used to do”. The Raid is an ice-bath compared to A Better Tomorrow. Filmmakers like Woo are pretty remarkable for their ability to explore the human dimension to violence in film. He’s a little melo-dramatic compared to someone like Hideo Gosha, but skillful nonetheless. While I was pleasantly surprised at some of the characterization in The Raid, it’s ornamental comparatively, and I think the film is the weaker for it.

Since The Raid continues to not be on Netflix instant, I started watching Merantau. I don’t know if you’ll ever review it, but I think it’s been interesting so far. It’s basically “Ong Bak goes Silat” as far as the plot goes, but there are little touches in the film that I gave a check mark. It’s not visionary film-making, but there were a sprinkling of nice ideas.